Soros announces FIRST ever contribution to Media Matters

October 20, 2010 1:42 PM EDT MEDIA MATTERS STAFF

Despite years of right-wing lies, Soros had never before donated to Media Matters

Washington, DC - Today, George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, and David Brock, founder and CEO of Media Matters for America, are issuing statements on Mr. Soros' decision to support Media Matters with his first ever contribution.

Statement from George Soros:

Despite repeated assertions to the contrary by various Fox News commentators, I have not to date been a funder of Media Matters. However, in view of recent evidence suggesting that the incendiary rhetoric of Fox News hosts may incite violence, I have now decided to support the organization. Media Matters is one of the few groups that attempts to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information they so often broadcast. I am supporting Media Matters in an effort to more widely publicize the challenge Fox News poses to civil and informed discourse in our democracy.

Statement from David Brock:

From the moment in early 2009 that Roger Ailes enlisted Glenn Beck to the Fox News Channel's new agenda -- a battle to overturn the 2008 election results that Ailes likened to the "The Alamo" -- Fox has transformed itself into a 24-7 GOP attack machine, dividing Americans through fear-mongering and falsehoods and undermining the legitimacy of our government for partisan political ends. Worse still, in recent months, Fox has allowed Glenn Beck's show to become an out-of-control vehicle for the potential incitement of domestic terrorism. No American should be quiet about these developments -- the degradation of our media and the reckless endangerment of innocent lives. George Soros, a philanthropist of the highest integrity, unfortunately knows first-hand what it's like to be grotesquely caricatured and flatly lied about on Fox. Media Matters is grateful that he has decided to lend his voice and support our goal of greater journalistic accuracy and accountability. We are especially pleased that in this moment of hidden right-wing billionaire money corrupting our democracy, Mr. Soros, upon deciding to support our efforts, quickly and transparently has made that support public.

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